Giants expand variable pricing

Goal is to capitalize on demand

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, December 3, 2008

In their quest to fill more seats, the Giants plan to test a variable pricing plan in 2009 that will turn 2,000 tickets for each game into a commodity such as airline tickets or stocks, whose prices could rise or fall daily based on demand.

The Giants, like most teams, already vary prices on the same seat for different games. An April weeknight game against the Marlins will be far cheaper than a September weekend game against the Dodgers.

In an experiment that could be expanded after 2009, the team hopes to take this supply-and-demand structure a step further. Instead of setting prices once before the season, the team might alter them as often as once a day depending on such factors as how many tickets already are sold, current prices on the secondary market, and even who is pitching for the Giants.

"Having the ability to adjust prices like airlines do can be an important tool for us in the long run," said Staci Slaughter, the team's senior vice president of communications.

Alas, the helter-skelter nature of airline-ticket pricing often infuriates customers, as people in adjoining seats might pay vastly different sums for the same flight. The Giants recognize that, which is why the 2009 experiment will cover a small portion of seats in the vast reaches of the upper deck and the back of the bleachers that largely go unsold.

Those seats, far from season-ticket and group sections, sold last year between $10 and $32, based on the date and opponent.

Using an algorithm devised by a pair of Texas engineers who approached the Giants, a computer will report on demand and suggest higher or lower prices. The team then could reprice tickets accordingly.

Russ Stanley, the Giants' executive in charge of ticket sales, said prices usually are set in August of the prior season, long before anyone knows which visiting teams will be good or which attractive players will sign where.

"The Padres could sign Pedro Martinez and Alex Rodriguez and we're selling tickets priced last August," Stanley said. "When Tim Lincecum pitches, that certainly impacts demand, so that could impact ticket prices, and we certainly don't know last August when he's going to pitch."

Although the Giants clearly hope to boost revenues with this plan, which the Associated Press first disclosed Tuesday, some fans could benefit. Because many of these upper-deck and bleacher tickets often go unsold, the computer will suggest the Giants lower prices for many games.

"My hope," Stanley said, "is that we can price them so people who never come to the games might come."